Turkey convinced Trump wants to avoid sanctions over S-400

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday he was convinced President Donald Trump did not want to impose sanctions over its purchase of the Russian S-400 missile defence system.

The US president has taken a soft line on Turkey over its purchase of the S-400 system -- which was delivered on July 13 -- saying Thursday that he did not envisage sanctions "for now".

But Washington did respond by kicking Turkey out of its F-35 fighter jet programme -- a loss of billions of dollars for Turkish defence contractors.

The US says Russia could glean technical secrets about the new fighter jet if it is operated alongside the S-400.

"Trump does not want to impose sanctions on Turkey," said Cavusoglu in an interview with TV station TGRT Haber.

"When Trump promises something, he does his best to stick to it, but there are different points of view in the United States." It is up to US lawmakers to decide on further punishing Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through ...